This invention relates to a load spacer for filling the void between articles or containers of freight and the side walls of the vehicle or container containing the freight which may be collapsed to a compact package for shipment or storage but can be readily expanded for use. More particularly, this invention relates to an improved suspension system for suspending the load spacer between articles of freight and the sides of the freight-containing container.
In the loading of a freight container such as a railway boxcar or other freight shipping vehicle or container, it frequently happens that the loads placed therein do not completely fill up the available storage space. Thus, there are left one or more vertical spaces between unit loads of goods and the walls of the shipping container. These spaces should be filled to prevent side shifting of the loads during transit which could cause damage to the load. In some instances, it is desired to space the load from the walls of the shipping container, for example, to prevent the load from contacting the rough walls of the container or nails or splinters in the wall and possibly being torn open.
Prior to the present invention, various forms of load spacers or void fillers have been proposed for filling the vertical spaces between closely spaced adjacent unit loads of goods. One particular form of load spacer is the collapsible, honeycomb structure in which a stack of rectangular strips of sheet material, for example, corrugated paperboard are glued to adjacent strips at spaced and staggered positions such that when expanded the strips define a honeycomb structure having a plurality of cells. These load spacers typically include provision for suspending the spacer either from the roof of the container or from the tops of a pair of spaced articles of freight. The honeycomb structure then expands downwardly between the articles under its own weight, or it is pulled downwardly to the bottom of the stack. When no longer needed, the load spacer may then be removed and stored in the collapsed condition for later use. Patents representative of this state of the art include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,862,607; 3,842,757; 3,823,675; 3,618,535; and 3,593,671.
Although prior workers have addressed themselves to the problem of suspending the load spacer between the articles of freight, a particular problem that has continued to plague the art has been to provide a load spacer for use between an article of freight and the vertical side wall of the container in which the freight is placed. That is, in such systems as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,618,535; 3,593,671; and 3,842,757, wood slats are provided at the top of the load spacer which extend laterally beyond the sides of the load spacer. The load spacer is then suspended between the closely adjacent spaced loads with the portions of the wood slats extending beyond the sides of the spacer resting on the tops of the loads on either side of the spacer. However, these systems cannot be used at the ends or sides of the load since it is impossible to suspend the spacer by cantilevering one end of the suspension member from the top of the load of freight. Moreover, the vehicle and contained load vibrate during transportation such that the load spacer inserted between the load and side wall of the container tends to fall therebetween and collapse.
One possible solution is to insert hanger wires through two top cells of the load spacer with the wires then being hooked to the top of the load itself or to an overhead rail on the side or top of the container. Such load spacers, however, have disadvantages in that the wires are sometimes difficult to work with, they require provision of an overhead suspension rail, they add expense to the load spacer, they increase the difficulty of shipping stacks of load spacers, they must be attached to the container or to the load before the load is put in place, and they generally increase the difficulty in placing and suspending the load spacer during loading of the freight containing vehicle. Another proposed solution is to take a center load spacer, fold back one side thereof and actually nail it to the wall of the container. This system suffers from the obvious disadvantage that the installer must actually nail the load spacer to the container. In addition to their use being limited to containers having wooden walls, they greatly increase the time for installing the load spacer as well as making its removal difficult. Moreover, after a number of nailings, such load spacers are no longer usable.